易胜博官网

It鈥檚 5:30 a.m. and the morning call to prayer echoes out across the rural, largely Muslim village of Peyniryemez, in the Yozgat province of Turkey, rousing Katherine Titus from her slumbers. Katie, to those who know her, eats a quick breakfast of coffee, bread, jam and honey and hops a ride in an old van over to her dig site at a place called 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k.

脟ad谋r H枚y眉k (pronounced 鈥淐HA-der HOY-ook鈥�) is an artificial mound in central Turkey that contains the remains of some 6,000 years of human settlement. Ruined communities ranging from the Middle Chalcolithic era (3700 鈥� 3350 BCE) to the Byzantine period (ending around 1075 CE) sit layer atop layer, reaching a height of 100 feet above the valley plain. That鈥檚 a roughly eight-story repository of the fortunes and misfortunes of a region and its many peoples.

There, Titus and her fellow Field School members work side-by-side with experienced archaeologists, learning how to handle a trowel and look for soil changes that indicate the presence of artifacts, architecture or bones. Titus is lucky: she was assigned to a trench at the base of 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k 鈥� the lower the trench, the older its secrets. For the next eight hours, she鈥檒l work at the site, with a much needed 鈥渟econd breakfast鈥� waiting at the bottom of the mound at 9 a.m. and a lunch of fresh vegetables, eggs, lentil soup, rice pilaf and k枚fte (a patty made of meat or lentil) served at 2 p.m. Afterwards, she鈥檒l work in the lab, drawing pottery or working on the excavation鈥檚 database of finds.

鈥淢ost of all, I learned how not to break things,鈥� quips Titus, 鈥渆specially since my trench was the most challenging 鈥� and rewarding 鈥� to dig due to the compacted soil.鈥�

She caps off the summer of 2018 by finding a nearly 6,000-year old cup.

From Sunapee to Central Turkey

Raised on a small farm in Sunapee, NH, Titus had a lifelong interest in archaeology and foreign travel. 鈥淭here was this old chimney that had crumbled in the woods where we played,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e called it 鈥榯he brick place鈥� and it excited our imaginations about the past.鈥� She is also of Armenian heritage and longed to learn more about her family鈥檚 ancestral home in Turkey.

So, when she enrolled at 易胜博官网, she dove right into with a focus on archaeology, eventually taking 鈥檚 course on the history of the Ancient Near East. In McMahon, Titus found somebody who not only inspired her to double major in but who also directed a major archaeological project 鈥� 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k 鈥� in, where else, but the very heart of the region from which Titus鈥� family had emigrated to America more than a century ago. 鈥淎natolia, which is the name of Turkey before the Turks arrived, is easily the most interesting place in the world,鈥� says McMahon. 鈥淭he region lays at the crossroads of civilization. You had to cross it to go from Europe to Asia. Many different cultures took advantage of its rich farmlands.鈥�

In the summer after her sophomore year, Titus joined McMahon for six weeks at 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k鈥檚 Field School, where her interests in archaeology and history turned into passions for them.

Return to 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k

Eager to return to 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k, Titus spent her junior year learning to speak Turkish with McMahon and applying for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). She also acquired a state-of-the-art array of archaeological skills with her academic advisor , a 易胜博官网 lecturer who specializes in bioarchaeology, the study of ancient skeletal remains. 鈥淒r. Michael inspired me to pursue biological anthropology, which uses skeletal remains to determine the age, sex, growth and health of ancient individuals,鈥� says Titus.

Through Michael, Titus learned how to use the relatively new technology of multi-image photogrammetry, which creates an accurate three-dimensional facsimile of surfaces and objects. 鈥淏ioarchaeologists use the tool for research and as a means of promoting cultural heritage preservation,鈥� explains Titus.

After securing her SURF, Titus was eager to use her new skills to examine a collection of excavated juvenile human burials dating from 3700-3000 BCE that had been intentionally interred in the corners of ancient architecture. 鈥淯sing skeletal biology and photogrammetry methods,听I hoped to draw conclusions regarding cause of death,鈥� says Titus. 鈥淲ere they coincidental or part of a ritual sacrifice?鈥�

Airline tickets in hand and summer itinerary set, Titus discovered that a senior Turkish scholar had recently taken the juvenile remains back to his own lab. Her reaction impressed the heck out of her mentors. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 miss a beat,鈥� recalls Michael. 鈥淲e worked hard before she left to make sure she was ready to go and be flexible when she got to site. So, Katie came fully prepared to fill a variety of roles and she did just that when she got to site.鈥�

That 鈥渞ole鈥� involved transferring her osteological techniques and photogrammetry methods from juveniles to adults. In one study, she re-analyzed the skeletal remains of a 1,000-year old Byzantine female whose skeleton had been badly misdiagnosed by a researcher reporting various deformities and miscalculating the age. 鈥淢y analysis showed that she had, in fact, no visible deformities and was much younger than first reported,鈥� says Titus.

A second study put her photogrammetry skills to use on three skulls from different eras. For this project, she built an apparatus consisting of a digital camera mounted on a tripod pointing at a turntable on which rested a pair of scales. One by one, she placed the skulls on the scales, switched on the turntable and took 140 photos at angles of 45, 90 and 180 degrees, running the images through special software that turned them into a manipulable, 3D facsimiles. The result, says Titus, is 鈥渁 digital repository of the originals that are now available for use by anybody, anywhere in the world.鈥�

A Promising Future

Titus presented her findings, 鈥淧reserving the Past for a More Ethical Future: Photogrammetry and Re-Analysis of a Bioarchaeological Sample from 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k in Central Turkey,鈥� at the university鈥檚 annual International Undergraduate Research Symposium in November. In addition, she presented a poster of her study at the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) international conference November 20 鈥� 23.

鈥淔or an undergraduate to get a poster accepted by ASOR is remarkable,鈥� says McMahon. 鈥淚 mean, she鈥檚 the first author and has a Ph.D. and graduate student as second and third authors.鈥�

One of those other authors, Michael, concurs, pointing out that Titus鈥檚 鈥渟oft鈥� skills matter just as much as her technical prowess. 鈥淎rchaeology involves hard manual labor, tedious time in the lab analyzing artifacts, and communal living and teamwork.听Katie鈥檚 been invited back to 脟ad谋r H枚y眉k for a third time.

鈥淪he鈥檚 part of the team, and she鈥檚 going to be a fantastic bioarchaeologist.鈥�